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Phishing E-mails Promising Tax-refund Prowl Queensland Internet

Police in Queensland (Australia) have cautioned residents that a new fake e-mail is targeting them declaring a so-called tax refund they're entitled to, thus published Brisbanetimes.com.au dated May 25, 2012.

Importantly, Queenslanders are being cautioned not to answer the bogus e-mails that contain ATO's (Australia Taxation Office) official logo.

Officers noted that with the sender's id shown as information@taxation.com, the e-mails have the caption "Subject: ID: 46-Tax Refund Notice!"

Recipients of these phishing e-mails apparently are prompted for following an embedded web-link that takes one onto a copycat site of the real ATO site. There they're asked for typing in personal credit card numbers, the computed balance in those cards along with personal driver license card in a scanned form.

Moreover, a threat is used in the e-mails that if the user provides incorrect information then he'll be criminally prosecuted under the taxation laws.

The phishing messages even tell victims that in case of any laxity they'll find their PCs' Internet Protocol address collected, while urged them for giving 6-9 working days by when the tax refund will reach them.

Meanwhile, authorities stated that the scammers were clearly trying to harvest specific identifying credentials so anybody who'd answered the fraudulent e-mails required annulling his credit card right away. They further recommended a credit rating appraisal as also probably monitoring just in case the crooks sought a credit amount in the potential victim's name.

The sophisticated ATO e-mail scam is quite like one contemporary Telstra phishing electronic mail scam, therefore people should be watchful while handling their e-mail, police caution.

Also remarking about the above phishing attack, Brian Hay Detective Superintendent of the Fraud and Corporate Crime Group of Queensland's Crime Operations Command states that given hoax electronic mails similar to the ATO one not being anything new, despite so people keep becoming victimized daily and this greatly worries the Group. Theregister.co.uk published this on May 25, 2012.

Additionally Hay states that it's also quite common to have phishing websites that contaminate end-users' PCs with various malicious programs, therefore it's important that people update their anti-virus software, so reported coffscoastadvocate.com.au on May 25, 2012.